Bulb sockets are to provide electrical connection between a power source and a lamp bulb. The bulb socket, as illustrated in FIG. 1, conventionally comprises a socket body having an inner-threaded bore into which a bulb 12 is threadingly engaged. The socket body 10 has two through holes 14 and 16 provided on a bottom thereof into which a hot plate 18 and a neutral plate 20 are inserted, respectively, to such positions contactable by the side contact and tip contact of the bulb 12. To secure a good electrical contact with the tip contact of the bulb 12, the hot plate 18 has a bent section 22 which is located just under the tip contact of the bulb 12. Both the hot plate 18 and neutral plate 20 have a sharpened tip 24 and 26 which, when the two plates 18 and 20 are inserted into the holes 16 and 14 of the socket body 10, are exposed so that when an electrical cable 28 are placed within a transverse slot 30 formed on the bottom of the socket body 10 and secured thereto by means of an end cap 32, the sharpened tips 24 and 26 pierce into the cable 28 to establish electrical connection therewith. The end cap 32 is provided with two opposite paws 34 which are to be received within corresponding slots 36 provided on the bottom of the socket body 10 to retain the end cap 32 on and thus secure the cable 28 to the bottom of the socket body 10.
Such a lamp bulb socket structure that is illustrated in FIG. 1 has been widely known and used, for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,778,409, 5,017,877, 5,350,315, 5,380,215 and 5,389,008. Nevertheless, several disadvantages are associated with such a conventional structure, such as:
(1) once the hot plate 18 and/or neutral plate 20 undergo un-desired deformation, it is very likely that a firm contact engagement between the bulb 12 and the plates 18 and 20 may not be maintained; PA1 (2) the neutral plate 20 that is received within the hole 14 may get bent to inadvertently contact the hot plate 18 so as to cause short-circuiting. PA1 (3) Since the hot plate 18 needs a bent section 22, the assembly of the hot plate 18 in the socket body 18 is more complicated due to the second operation applied thereon to form the bent section 22 after the hot plate 18 that is originally not bent is inserted into the corresponding hole 16.
In view of the above discussed and other disadvantages of the conventional lamp bulb socket structure, such as the one illustrated in FIG. 1, it is desirable to provide an improvement of the lamp bulb socket structure over the conventional structure to overcome the disadvantages and drawbacks thereof.